Musique Machine on the new release from Finnish act Candy Cane: https://www.musiquemachine.com/reviews/reviews_template.php?id=1852
Also covered: Mattias Petersson's album "Floodlight" on iDEAL Recordings: https://www.musiquemachine.com/reviews/reviews_template.php?id=1856

PopMatters has a short take review of the latest Motorpsycho record "Little lucid moments": https://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/60609/motorpsycho-little-lucid-moments

Ólafur Arnalds
Eulogy for evolution
Erased Tapes

On "Eulogy for evolution", Icelandic composer Ólafur Arnalds' piano takes center stage. But as the elegiac legato drips and drops that hug its predominantly 4/4 time are never adventurous, the first half of the album must seek the familiar risk of avant-garde composition elsewhere -- and it doesn't find it. The strings are expressive but expected, and the occasional flurry of electronica only shuffles around quietly in the background. It isn't until album standout and fan favorite "3055" that Ólafur finds his groove, adding a rollicking drumbeat that actually favors the time signature, calling those lethargic piano lines to life in an emotional, fast-paced ending. He finally comes down in between the common time lines in the emotional string-driven build up, and even makes time for some tinkling arpeggios in its conclusion. He finds blissful dissonance in strings on "3326", and album closer "3704/3837" is a screechingly beautiful firestorm of electric guitar and machine gun drums that sputters out as a sublime organ drones softly until its completion.

As an album it works well: it's one seamless work with the story-arc of a movie that plods along, contentedly melancholic until it explodes into a riveting climax and satisfied fall. And he's at his best when he embraces the haywire beauty of discord and calamity. But I have to wonder whether the contemplative beginning makes the end worth the wait. "Evolution" is only his debut, so we'll have to see. Maybe Ólafur is just resigned to float between continents in the indie-Atlantic, trying to find the elusive balance between artistic risk and the simple beauty inherent in avoiding it. Maybe that's not such a bad thing.
- Nathan Keegan

Dusted reviews the new Paavoharju record "Laulu laakson kukista": https://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/4421

King of All the Animals
Paper beats rock
Pyramid

I've always held a soft spot in my heart for Tigerbombs, mostly as a damned fun summer band, though Pepe Trouble's solo act took me by surprise: not only in solidifying his songwriting amongst the strongest summer-pop work out there, but also by branching out his pop craftsmanship along more serious avenues. With a truly all-star Scandinavian cast, including Astrid Swan, Samae Koskinen (of Sister Flo), and Sweden's The Mopeds, amongst many, many others, King of All the Animals is a talented collection of tried and tested musicians, and "Paper beats rocks" is even further testament to this statement. Instead of the Caesars (Palace)-like tact that Tigerbombs adopt -- chock full of rock organ hooks and fills -- King of All the Animals is a much more typically Scandinavian pop group. "1000-mile-heartache" feels like it fell straight out of a 80s coming-of-age film, a Modern English vibe wrapped around an almost Shout Out Louds-type delivery. "Everything burns red" bristles with perfect guitar hooks and the layered, saturated approach that Moonbabies have perfected. There are a few stumbles on the record, all of which are easily forgiven (and almost more easily forgotten as one become more familiar with the album), and none of which even mildly threaten to derail this proficient and entertaining work. Listen to "The Cologne beat" and you'll know exactly where all my excitement for "Paper beats rock" comes from.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson

Suburban Kids with Biblical Names + Jap Adaptors
Live @ Gula Villan, 07/05/08

So the setup was a barbecue and some summer hanging out, then Suburban Kids and Jap Adaptors would play to support Half Handed Cloud and Lake from the States. We picked up some nice pre-marinated entrecôtes from Sabis, Jonas (UDDUP, Ellis) brought some porkchops that he'd marinated himself with his homemade marinade (there's Coca-Cola in it). I hadn't grilled anything in maybe 12 years. There's something about meat on a grill, it's some kind of guy-magnet. Before I knew it, we were four guys standing around the grill watching meat getting grilled, talking about tenderizing. The vegetarian grill, on the other hand, was totally lame.

We'd brought a Frisbee and started to throw, we soon had some folks playing. Johan Hedberg from SKwBN played with us and we were having alot of fun goofing of as the sun started to set. Joel (KVLR) was there, Matte (UDDUP, ELLIS) Pontus, Rickard... seemed like the entire Haninge-scene showed up. People were hanging out and it was cool.

SKwBN played a short set. I didn't recognize much, but it was really good. They're fun to watch. I think a lot were new songs. One song was in Swedish. Jap Adaptors were also really cool. I hadn't seen them before. They have a similar sound as SKwBN but also different. Great guitars. I was getting drunk.

Dinosaur Jr came on the stereo and me and Jonas played air guitar, mouthing the solos. "Take a run at the sun" is a really cool song. The clouds had parted earlier, so it was a bright northern summer night, kinda cold. and then we went home. Wish you'd been there.
- Mathias Rask-Andersen

Musique Machine on the new Maja Ratkje 3" sound collage CD "Teip": https://www.musiquemachine.com/reviews/reviews_template.php?id=1838

Dusted reviews the new Ole-Henrik Moe double-album on Rune Grammofon: https://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/4384

Stars In Coma
You're still frozen in time
Music Is My Girlfriend/Plastilina Records

Think back to the time when The Field Mice released their EP "Sensitive", add some melancholic electro beat, the 80's synth and a thinner version of Pelle Almquvist's voice, with a tiny flashback to London, to The Beatles. This is Stars In Coma. Not flashy or classy. "You're still frozen in time" ain't giving that wow feeling, but rather a conclusion of alright pop music with a general positive impression and a few hits. When listening to "I saw my heart passing by" I had to look at the playlist, to make sure it wasn't Andreas Jonsson's "Sing for me", parenthesis: meaning high quality, therefore their best track. Vocalist André Brorsson has, sadly, a too fragile and ordinary voice, sometimes too whiny, to reach the top. Chris Martin is fragile and whiny, but importantly eccentric. Maybe André needs to twist it up to make his sound more tweepoppy, more special. Well, I think of London when I listen to this. I bet my head that this will be suitable to the taste of 'Londoners'. Right now I'm wondering if the lath in Sweden is placed high up above, coming to the scene of pop and indie.
- Therese Buxfäldt

The Silent Ballet reviews the new Cult of Luna album "Eternal kingdom": https://thesilentballet.com/dnn/Home/tabid/36/ctl/Details/mid/384/ItemID/1570/Default.aspx

Pitchfork finally gets around to reviewing the latest Vapnet record "Döda fallet": https://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/51505-vapnet-dda-fallet
Also covered, the new Blackstrap album "Steal my horses and run": https://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/51498-blackstrap-steal-my-horses-and-run

Annie
Live @ Mucha Marcha/Proud Gallery, London, 07/04/08

How times change. Almost three years ago to the day I saw Annie supporting Saint Etienne at the sparsely populated Koko venue. She was swamped by the size of the stage and was aided only by a DJ with decks and effects.

Fast forward three years and it seems Annie is being given a second bite of the pop cherry. She's back and this time she means it. The decadent surroundings of The Proud Gallery provide the fashionista crowd and Annie a feel akin to what I imagine a high school prom would be like. This time around she is complemented with a full band set up, which gives the songs a lot more room to breathe. Forthcoming single, "I know your girlfriend hates me", is transformed into an extended dancefloor filler, with Annie joined by a troupe of female dancers. They don't look too dissimilar to the girls featured Robert Palmer's iconic "Addicted to love" video. At the song's climax lollipops are handed out to the crowd, adding to her sugary sweet appeal. Annie is totally self-assured, a prom queen conducting her band and the crowd with her slightly pervy red gloves. The new songs are a bit of a mixed bag. "My love is better", with its choppy guitars, errs very slightly towards bland territory but "Songs remind me of you" could well be a monster hit in waiting. Starting out as a disco stomper and building up into an enormous four-by-four breakdown, it ticks all the boxes of a club banger. It's not rocket science. Just don't tell that to the heaving masses of gurning, grinning fools partying like it's 1999.

Tonight Annie passed the hipster test, but now she needs to prove she can cross over to the mainstream. Getting Xenomania on board (the production team behind Girls Aloud) signifies her intentions. However, whether she can throw down the gauntlet and challenge Robyn as the queen of Scandi pop is another matter entirely.
- Nick Levine

Sigur Rós
Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
EMI

With first single "Gobbledygook" as the presupposed manifesto for the anti-"Heima" -- recorded in NYC, London, and Havana instead of the usual Reykjavík -- it's a bit disappointing to see Jonsi & Co can't avoid their own pitfalls, falling prey at various times to a retread of the idiosyncrasies that made "Agaetis byrjun" and "( )" great. The melodies remain memorable, and "Goðan daginn" with its middle-register acoustic guitar atop a feathered cadence, is a pristine example of "Heima" creative holdover. But their particular brand of four-to-the-floor pulses tiredly through the first half of the album, and the on-paper majesty of "Ára batur"'s full orchestra and boys choir turns out to be little more than bloated "Takk" fare. Their marketability, sadly, climbs ever upward as they half-manage to fit their Aleph of tinkling instruments into these smaller and smaller packages.

I guess after their 2006 tour of Iceland that championed their cultural and musical past, "Með suð..." seemed the perfect vehicle for a massive paradigm shift. My hopes buoyed by that gloriously playful first single, I saw this album marrying the time signature mystique of "Amnesiac" and the ornery appeal of "Sung Tongs" through their distinctive Icelandic style. Instead, all I got was an admittedly beautiful "Takk" remake, marked with the somber organs, plaintive strings, and playful glockenspiels of old.
- Nathan Keegan

Pitchfork reviews the expanded digital release of the new Love Is All EP "Wishing well": https://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/51447-love-is-all-wishing-well-5-ep

Kleerup
s/t
EMI

Pop music can be about a lot more than shifting hundreds of a thousands of records and continuously rotating overly-glitzy music videos, and Andreas Kleerup's self-titled debut is verification of this idea. Holding more in common with The Knife's songwriting approach than that of Max Martin, and reveling in similar production tricks to that of Justice, Kleerup's compositions seem almost "accidentally" radio friendly; too much effort has been put into these tracks for them to be dismissed as pop fluff, and yet too much pop sensibility has gone into their writing for the songs to feel pretentiously avant-garde -- the album's strengths exist somewhere in between these two judgments. While the record is rather star-studded with tracks featuring numerous well-known artists: Robyn, Lykke Li, Neneh Cherry, and Marit Bergman, to name a few, Kleerup's own tracks stand up well on their own. "Thank you for nothing" runs cleverly between Europop-like catchiness and the allure of well-produced remixes of bands like Phoenix, and opener "Hero" is an engaging first look at the album, evoking a strange mix between Vangelis and Röyksopp. "With every heartbeat", the Robyn-featured single, is my favorite track, though the Marit Bergman led "3am" and Lykke Li's "Until we bleed" are not far behind. Overall, "Kleerup" is a skillfully produced pop record that's as much fun as it is expertly written and executed -- a pleasant departure from the soulless gloss of so many other pop albums.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson